Cultivator.



No. 628,924. Patented July I8, l1899.

\ E. CHILDREN.

CU'LTIVATOH.

(Application filed Apr. 10, 1899.)

f-No Model.)

Nrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

` EDVIN CHILDREN, OF CONCIL BLUFFS, IOWA.

cu LTIVATO R,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 628,924, dated July 18, 1899;

Application liled April l0, 1399.

serai no. 312,403. N model.)

To all wil/0111, t may concern; l A Be it known that I, EDWIN CHILDREN, citizen of the United States, residing in Council Bluffs, in the county of Pottawattamie and Stateof Iowa, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Cultivators, of which the following is a specification.

It is frequently desirable in the use of cultivators to vary the distance between the wheels to accommodate the different widths of the rows,'and some farmers prefer to use their cultivators with wheels farther apart than other farmers. In the present invention I aim to produce a construction in which the wheels may be changed so as to vary the distance between them.

The nature of the improvement is fully explained in the description given below and is also illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l shows one of the axle-spindles together with a section `of the wheel-hub ar ranged thereon in one position7 and Fig. 2 is a similar view showing thehub in the position it will occupy when it is reversed from Fig. l.

In said drawings, A represents one of the spindles of the axle of a wheel-cultivator, and B is the hub-box of one of the wheels.

Gis a sleeve encircling the spindle and having an upward extension C', whereby it may be attached to the vertical portion A of the axle by any suitable meanssuch, for instance, as the U-bolt A2. This sleeve is provided with a shoulder C3, which forms an end thrust for the hub-box when the wheel is in the position of Fig. l, and a dust-excluder C4 is preferably provided over the upper part of the shoulder. The sleeve is of such diameter as to enable the recessed end of the box B to lit over it. The box and sleeve are thus adapted to sustain the severe wear which will be put upon them by reason of the location of the spokes F at one side of the center of the box.

D is the retaining ring or device for con lining the box upon the spindle, and it is held in position by a locking-pin E passing thro ugh it and also through the axle, as plainly shown. In Fig. l this ring is also shown as having a dust-excluding flange D extending over the abutting and small end of the hub-box.

In the position of Fig. l the wheels are -in Ytheir near position and at Fig. 2 they are spread to the extent permittedby my construction, and this change is accomplished by simply reversing the wheels side for side upon their respective spiudlesthat is to say, placing them upon the spindles with the small ends of the hub-boxes abutting against the outer ends of the sleeves-and also re vel-sing the retaining-ring. In order to permit this latter change, the retaining-ring is made of the same diameter as the sleeve C, and is thus adapted to be entered wit-hin the end of the hub-box, which in Fig. l is shown as encircling said sleeve, and the recessed end of the box and the ring are thus adapted to take the severe wear or labor due to the positioning of the spokes already mentioned. The retaining-rin g is preferably provided with an outstanding llange D2, against which the larger end of the hub may abut, as in Fig. 2, and is also provided with a dust-excluding projection D3, setting` over the large end of the hub-box. The retaining-ring is also perforated with a second opening for the locking-pin at its flanged end, which openingis utilized in the reversed position of the ring, as shown. l

In the construction shown the spokes F are secured to a ring G, located nearer one end of the box than the other, and of course when the y spokes are thus located off center the change effected by reversing the wheels is greater than it would be if the spokes were in the center of the box; but obviously the sleeve and ring may be used with wheels having centrally-located spokes as well as with those having their spokes arranged at one side of the center, the main difference being that a greater widening or narrowing of the space between the wheels is effected in one case than in 'the other.

With the wheel illustrated themainwear will come on the recessed end of the box and the sleeve in the position of Fig. l and on the same end of the box and the retaining-ring in theother position. I The sleeve and ring ter becomes a matter of small moment.V

I claim-4 v 1. The combination with the axle-spindle of the sleeve C, the reversible retaining-ring adapted to fit either end of the Wheel-hub,

and a Wheel having a hub-box adapted to encircle either said sleeve or said ring, substantially as specified.

2. The combination Withareversible Wheel, and the axle, of sleeve C and retaining-ring D, substantially as specified.

The combination with a reversible wheel and the axle, of a sleeve secured at the innei1 end of the axle-spindle and 4confiningq the i wheel at one side, a retaining-ring', also reversible, for confining the Wheel on the other side, and means for securimg said ring to the axle, substantially as specified.

4. The combination with the axle and the wheel having its spokes located near one end of its hub-box, of a sleeve attached to one end of the axle-spindle, and a retaining-ring adapted tobe secured at the other end of the spindle, the end of the hub-box upon Which the spokes are located being enlarged so as to enable it to encircle the sleeve in one position of the Wheel and the ring in the other position,l substantially as specified.

EDWIN CHILDREN. Vitnesses:

CHAS. L. MOLYMAN, J. C. BAKER. 

